Catfishing – Online Dating Scams

Catfishing – Online Dating Scams

What is “Catfishing” when talking about online dating?

Catfishing is a term that describes a recently popular “outed” dating scam and is a term coined by “Nev” Yaniv Shulman and his film crew from the movie Catfish. Catfishing online is nothing new and has been going on for years since the first dating site Love@AOL and many others were introduced around 1995. Catfishing is not a surprise since data suggest that 1 in 10 dating profiles are fake on these dating sites. A Catfish scam occurs when someone assumes a persona (or many) in order to trick another person into believing that they’re really that person online. Oftentimes a “Catfish” will go to extremes to continue their lie and typically use social networks, dating sites and all different types online forums. They might display fake profile pictures, get a separate phone line and even create a complete online profile with “fake” friends to cover their tracks. Oftentimes, there is a reason why people choose to create these fake profiles. Below you can see why someone might choose to create a fake catfish profile.

Why are Online Dating Scammers Called Catfish?

What is a Catfish? A “catfish” is a term derived from an old fish story told to Nev Shulman about stimulating cod to increase the taste and texture. The story explains how fisherman used to have the problem of cod becoming bored and understimulated while being “tanked” during the boat-ride from Alaska to China which would cause them to become stale and tasteless. Someone came up with an idea to put catfish in the tanks with the cod. Being a natural predator (we haven’t been able to verify this as we couldn’t find any data supporting the claim and the fact that catfish are fresh water fish), the catfish would chase the cod and keep them moving and agile which, in return would produce a better quality cod. Well, Vince (the husband of the woman; Angela who “catfished” Nev) compared this story to her efforts in contrast to their online relationship where she lured him in and “stimulated” him. This is a nice way to put it since most of these online relationships are purely selfish and the catfish usually has a motive for what they’re doing.

Find Out if You’re Being Catfished

Types of Catfish?

Dating Catfish

This is one of the newest and most recently publicized catfishing scams although, they’ve been going on a lot longer than people know about. Typically, the catfish reaches out to a person through a forum or social network (like Facebook or a dating site like pof.com, OKCupid, etc.) and engages conversation with them. The catfish will create fake profiles and oftentimes elaborate stories to keep the charade going. There are different things that motivate each of these people. It’s most commonly a need to be liked, hide who they really are because of confidence issue and sometimes it’s because of greed because they want your money but, in all cases, the catfish is lying about who they are.

419 Nigerian Prince Scam

This is one of the oldest and most known catfishing profiles that originally started with mail then, fax and then email. The story has evolved over time from needing money to get the prince out of jail and then personal information in order to wire money but, the most recent story is the African prince needs money for bribes so that they can get access to the money and in return, they (the scam artist) claim that they will provide a large payoff. Another version of this story is that the prince needs to store the money temporarily in order to hide the money. They ask for personal bank information in order to transfer the money and then steal money. The latest version of this scam are people posing as your relatives on Facebook telling you that they know a wealthy person that needs money because to move because they don’t currently have access to their money. These are the worst types of the catfish scams and always involved a request for personal information or to send money.

Russian brides scam (Romance scam)

This is one of the easiest scams to catch but, so many people fall for it each year because it plays into their emotions. A typical Russian bride scam plays out where you are contacted by a women (it can be a man too) who is looking for an American mate to marry and settle down with. After a specified time, they start asking for money for things like internet (because it’s supposedly expensive in their country) plane tickets, travels expenses, etc. Another example is where the scammer will contact you, start developing feelings really quickly and then disappear. Once they reappear, they tell you that they’ve been in a horrible accident and that they need money for medical expenses, etc. These types of scams always involve asking for money to help them pay for things that can be narrowed down to medical expenses, travel costs or basic necessitates. Keep in mind that they don’t always come from Russia.

What is the psychology behind Catfish schemes?

Loneliness

Online relationships reduce their loneliness so they continue to build upon fake profiles and meet new people becoming more involved (often romantically). This makes the relationship harder to keep as there is often a need to talk and see each other.

Sensation Seekers

People will take legal, emotion risks to seek intense sensations. This involves creating fake personas and even more elaborate situations to continue these facades. Often there is no intention to hurt people, just to feel a certain emotion.

Extroverted

Believe it or not, but, most catfish are extroverts. They love communicating with other people and love the attention which drives them to become a catfish.

Revenge

Sometimes people catfish for revenge. A boyfriends’ ex or someone that screwed them over. You get the point.

Greed

These are the worst types of catfish. Their only concern is getting your money and they will tell you whatever it takes to get it.

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Who We Are

Social Catfish is a online dating investigation service based in California, USA. We verify information to confirm if the person that you’ve met online is really who they say they are.

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We do in depth checks using our own proprietary online tools to verify things like images, social profiles, phone numbers, emails, jobs and a lot more to make sure that you have the most information about the person that you've met online. We are the only company doing verification of public information such as jobs, phone numbers criminal checks as well as social profiles and images.

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